1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to sensing of subsurface artifacts by use of visual and thermal imagery and more particularly to remote sensing of such subsurface artifacts as may be exemplified by tunnels and excavations.
2. Related Art
Methods and systems for detection of subterranean anomalies such as voids and leaks by the use of infrared thermography and, more particularly, to methods and system for using infrared thermography together with ground penetrating radar to map subterranean leakage voids and to repair such voids and terminate such leakage are the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 7,218,267 issued May 15, 2007, on application Ser. No. 11/442,508, filed May 26, 2006, and which patent is entitled SYSTEM OF SUBTERRANEAN ANOMALY DETECTION AND REPAIR USING INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY AND GROUND PENETRATING RADAR, based Upon U.S. Provisional App. No. 60/685,338, filed May 27, 2005; and corresponding PCT Patent Application entitled SYSTEM OF SUBTERRANEAN ANOMALY DETECTION AND REPAIR, filed May 26, 2006, both of the present inventor, and both of which are herein incorporated in their entirety by reference, and such patent applications broadly relate to methods and systems for detection of subterranean anomalies such as voids and leaks by the use of infrared thermography and, more particularly, to methodology, systems, and apparatus for using infrared thermography together with ground penetrating radar to map subterranean leakage voids and to repair such voids and terminate such leakage in a very highly accurate, reliable, rapid and cost-effective manner.
The present inventor is also the patentee of Weil U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,593 issued Mar. 20, 1990, entitled SYSTEM FOR GEOLOGICAL DEFECT DETECTION UTILIZING COMPOSITE VIDEO-INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY, and various corresponding patents in other countries. U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,593, the entirety of which is herein incorporated in its entirety by reference, discloses a selectively mobile system with an infrared (“IR”) scanner and video camera having a common area of focus and apparatus for detecting location permits detection of subterranean geological anomalies. Infrared and visual images are simultaneously successively recorded on videotape together with related location data and other relevant information. Video recorded infrared, video and location data are selectively captured on successive frames. Such frames are recorded for further analysis such as for determining the location and extent of subsurface anomalies such as leaks. That system is especially useful for mapping such anomalies along a route of travel, as across bridges, highways and other traffic surfaces such as paved surfaces or for examining surfaces that extend over elongated passages such as buried sewer and water lines, and for finding bridge and pavement faults and defects.
These various prior systems and variations and developments of the present inventor, as implemented commercially on a national and international basis by the present inventor at EnTech Engineering, Inc., are known as the INSITE I, II, III, IV, V & VI Subsurface Pipeline Leak and Erosion Void Detection Systems or more simply as the INSITE I, II, III, IV, V & VI Systems.